Location-based games and augmented reality systems

ABSTRACT

Handheld location based games are provided in which a user&#39;s physical location correlates to the virtual location of a virtual character on a virtual playfield. 
     Augmented Reality (AR) systems are provided in which video game indicia are overlaid onto a user&#39;s physical environment. A landscape detector is provided that may obtain information about the user&#39;s landscape, in addition to the user&#39;s location, in order to provide overlaying information to an AR head-mounted display and control information to non-user controlled video game characters.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 60/628,475 (Docket No. JDM/008 PROV) filed on Aug. 16,2004 and titled “Location-Based Games and Augmented Reality Systems,”which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to location-based game systems.

Virtual Reality (VR) systems have been developed in which a user isprovided with a non-transparent head-mounted display. This displayprovides images to the user such that the user is immersed in a virtual,alternate reality. A user cannot see his/her physical environment whileimmersed in such a virtual, alternate reality. Accordingly, VR systemsare deficient because a user cannot easily move around a physicalenvironment while immersed in the virtual reality because a user cannotsee his/her physical environment. If a user begins to physically move inhis/her physical environment without being able to see his/her physicalenvironment then the user may trip, or bump into, a physical object(e.g., a rock or chair).

As a result of the mobility constraints of traditional VR systems, auser is traditionally placed on a platform that is surrounded by paddedsafety rails. A user cannot move outside of this protected platform andmoves through the virtual, alternate reality created by the VR systemthrough the use of a manual joystick. Such a VR system is deficientbecause it severely limits the way that a user may interact with thevirtual, alternate reality provided by the VR system.

Traditional manual controls occasionally have a primary control and anumber of supplemental controls. Such a primary control occasionallytakes the form of a joystick. The primary control occasionally providesthe main control signal to a video game. Traditionally, the main controlsignal controls the location of a video game character in a virtualworld. Such controls, however, are deficient because the controlsrequire unnatural user movement to generate the primary control signal.It is therefore desirable to provide a primary control device that doesnot require unnatural user movement to generate a primary control signalto a video game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A handheld location-based game system is provided in which a user'sphysical position on a physical playfield (e.g., the physical world, aphysical environment, or a defined physical playfield) correlates to avideo game character's location in a virtual playfield. In this manner,a video game character may be controlled without the need for ajoystick. A handheld location-based game system is also provided thatincludes manual controls. Such manual controls may be utilized duringlocation-based gameplay. An Augmented Realty (AR) game system may alsobe provided as, for example, a location-based game system and maydisplay virtual indicia on a semi-transparent head-mounted display suchthat a user can see both virtual indicia and his/her physicalenvironment. Virtual indicia may also be provided that interacts with aphysical environment. For example, information may be provided to an ARgame system about a user's physical environment. Furthering thisexample, the location of a doorway in a room may be provided to an ARvideo game such that a virtual character may be seen by a user of an ARdisplay to walk through a doorway and disappear. Thus, a video gamesystem may be provided that augments a user's environment to provide avideo game. As the video game progresses, the user may interact withhis/her physical environment in order to play a virtual game(e.g., bywalking through his/her environment and shooting at virtual ducks flyingthrough the air).

A switch may also provided that allows a user to manually play alocation-based game (e.g., an AR game). In this manner, a user may beable to obtain functionality from the location-based game system whenthe user is not able to move. Such a benefit may be utilized, forexample, when the user is a passenger in a moving car or sick in bed.

A location-based game can, however, be provided while a player is in bedor is in a car. For example, a location-based game could be implementedbased on the movement of a car such that the movement of the car istranslated into a control signal for the game (e.g., the location of acar in a game). Such a video game system may be embedded in a vehicle(e.g., a car). If a car is safely utilized on a large parking lot, anumber of games may be realized as location-based games (e.g., asaugmented reality games where game graphics are selectively provided onthe vehicle's dash/windows). While in bed, a location-based game can beprovided by translating small differences in location of the system (ora controller for a system). The system (or a controller to the system)can, for example, be a fishing rod such that the movement of a flick ofthe system is used to generate a control signal for casting a virtualrod in a virtual video game system.

A playmat is provided that may be packaged with a handheldlocation-based game system. If the handheld system is dedicated to asingle game (e.g., the handheld system is not enabled to downloadadditional games, play additional games, or receive cartridge-based ordisc-based games) then the playmat may be representative of that singlegame. Additionally, such a single game dedicated system (or any systemor any controller) may be shaped similar to, for example, the maincharacter of the video game, or any character or characteristic of avideo game, in order to increase the whimsical and festive nature ofplaying the game.

A playmat for a location-based system (e.g., an AR system) may correlateto a particular virtual playfield. Doing so may assist the user inplaying the handheld location-based game. Using the classic game ofFROGGER as an example, the virtual playfield of FROGGER may be the samefor each level (disregarding the types of virtual computer controlledobjects used in each level). Thus, a FROGGER playmat may include indiciarepresentative of this virtual playfield. Additional non-playfieldindicia may be provided on the playmat to provide additionallocation-based game information to a user. For example, a “START” circlemay be provided on the playmat. Such a “START” circle may correlate tothe location where the user can start each level.

In this manner, the location-based game may be configured (e.g., scaled)such that user movements on the playmat playfield correlate tolocation-based game movements on the virtual playfield. Thus, thelocation-based game may utilize the knowledge of the origin location(e.g., the START location) and the playmat perimeters (e.g., physicalplayfield perimeters) to provide a location-based game. Such a playmatmay also be beneficial to locating devices that may accumulate errorsover time. As such the location-based game and the playmat may beconfigured to reduce the chance of such accumulation errors. Forexample, if a locating device accumulates noticeable location errorsafter 30 seconds of gameplay, each game level may be limited to aparticular period of time (e.g., 30 seconds). In configuring the size ofthe playmat, and appropriately scaling the location-based game to theplaymat, the amount of time before noticeable errors accrue can bemanipulated. Similarly, the average amount of time before noticeableerrors accrue can be determined such that an appropriate time limit forfinishing a level can be subsequently determined. Persons skilled in theart will appreciate that a number of location-based systems can befabricated in which noticeable errors may never accrue. One such examplemay be a hybrid locating system that uses an inertial positioning system(e.g., any number of accelerometers and/or gyroscopes) to determinelocation between signals received from a positioning device (e.g., a GPSdevice).

Taking FROGGER as an example, a user may be given 30 seconds to travelbetween the “START” location and an “END” location on the playmat. Afterthe user has completed a level (or dies), that user may be instructed toreturn to the origin position such that the locating device may reset sothat the errors accumulated during the last level is removed but thelocation-based game knows where the user is. Multiple playmats may bepackaged together with a location-based game. Playmats that are similarbut have different sizes may also be packaged together with alocation-based game. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that alocation-based game can measure the exact location of a device (e.g.,via a positioning system such as a GPS system) and/or follow themovement of a device to determine changes in movement (e.g., via anynumber of accelerometers and/or gyroscopes) or a hyrbid of differenttypes of sensors.

Playmats may also include holes such that they may be easily pegged intothe ground or such that gaming components may be attached to the playmatat particular locations. For example, if the locating device is a localpositioning system, positioning transmitters may be positioned atpre-determined locations on the playmat (e.g., holes cut into theplaymat for receiving the transmitters) to expedite the correct setup ofthe local positioning systems.

Systems and methods of scaling information from physical playfields to avideo game system are also provided. Systems and methods of storing suchinformation are also provided.

A location-based gaming system with a head-mounted display is providedsuch that video game indicia may be overlaid onto the user's physicalplayfield. Such a head-mounted display may be transparent such that auser can see through the display in areas where virtual indicia is notdisplayed. In this manner, the user may travel as fast as he/she wantsto without risk of bumping into, or tripping over, a physical object.The display may also be non-transparent. A camera, however, may beprovided on, or around, the head-mounted display to capture the physicalenvironment. The physical environment can then be manipulated by aprocessor such that, for example, virtual indicia (e.g., a video gamecharacter or component is added) is added to the physical environment.The combination of the physical environment and virtual indicia can thenbe displayed to a user on a head-mounted display (or any type ofdisplay) such that a user can still see his/her physical environmenteven with a non-transparent display. As such, a non-transparent videogame system is provided that can provide both augmented reality andvirtual reality functionalities.

Such overlays may include games in which only video game characters andinteractive objects are overlaid onto the physical environment. As aresult, the user's physical environment may be structurally kept thesame.

To increase the safety of a game that allows for a high-level of usermobility, such video game indicia may be provided with differentcontrasts (e.g., strength) at different distances from a user such thatat least close virtual objects/characters are semi-transparent such thatclose, physical hazards may be recognized by a user. Similarly, novirtual indicia may be allowed to come within a certain distance of auser (from the user's perspective). Thus, a virtual indicia (e.g., avideo game character) may never block a hazardous object that is closeto a user.

A landscape detector may be provided with a location-based game systemsuch that information on the physical terrain of the user's physicalenvironment may be utilized by the gaming system. If the locating deviceis a GPS device (or if the area has already been scanned), landscapeinformation may be retrieved from memory that stores such information.

The information provided by the landscape detector may be utilized, forexample, to position where portions of a video game playfield, objects,and characters may be positioned on a display (e.g., on a head-mounteddisplay). Such information may also be used, for example, to control themovement characteristics of computer-controlled video game charactersand indicia. A directional device may also be included to determine thedirection and/or pitch that the user (e.g., the head-mounted display) isfacing. Such information may be utilized to determine the rotation of ausers head as well as the user's visual perspective. Thus, thehead-mounted display may, in itself, provide control signals to a videogame.

To simplify the process of providing an augmented video game system, avideo game may be played in the game system in an ever-changing virtualworld. Portions of this game, and perspectives of those portions, may beselectively displayed to the user at a particular time. In this manner,the complexity of an augmented reality game may be simplified such thatthe augmented system renders a non-visible game based on control signalsand, for example, portions of this game are selected and provided to adisplay based on the control signals. Thus, any type of video gamehardware, or software, may be utilized and a module may be provided forthe image selection process. Such a module can also configure the imageto be displayed to a user (e.g., aligned with a user's physical terrain)or another device (e.g., another module) can be utilized to correlateselected indicia on a physical terrain. Such modules can also convertcontrol signals provided by an AR game controller (e.g., head-mountedmovement sensors and/or positioning systems) to control signalsunderstood by any game system. As such, a classic 3-Dimensional videogame (e.g., Goldeneye 007 or Pacman 3D) can be played on a classicvideo-game system (e.g., Nintendo 64 or Playstation), yet be provided asan AR game system. This may be accomplished through the use of an add-onmodule that may, for example, translate control signals communicatedbetween the game system and add-on module, selective images (and audio)from the game system to display on the AR display, and determine how todisplay the selected images (and audio) on the AR display (and AR soundsystem).

Such an add-on module can interface via character control interfaces andaudio/video outputs on a game system. In such a configuration, theadd-on module may receive just static images/sounds. Thus, the add-onmodule may be provided with information to process the image, determinethe location of video game indicia (e.g., a video game enemy) anddetermine the action of video game indicia (e.g., a video game enemyshooting). Such information may be provided in a look-up table providedon a remote database such that copies of images for a number of, or allof, video game indicia for any particular game can be obtained andcompared to the received still images. Thus, the module can determinehow video game indicia is being presented in the game such that thevideo game indicia can be appropriately presented on an AR display.Furthermore, an AR add-on module can be interfaced to the controlprocessor of a game system (or any component of a video game system suchas the system's rendering device). Such an interface may, for example,directly skew what is being rendered and how it is being rendered forlater use in an AR display. Such an interface may also, for example,monitor the movement and status of video game indicia directly from thevideo game system (e.g., directly from the processor).

An AR game system may be utilized in many applications. For example, anAR game system may be utilized in the military training of soldiers. Toaccommodate such an application the landscape of a pre-determined area(e.g., a particular square area of a military based) may be scanned at apoint before a game is played. Virtual objects may be generated usingthis scanned information that correspond to physical objects. Such aprocess may be utilized when the landscape is being scanned as a game isplaying. Thus, the video game system may construct a virtual worldsimilar to the scanned physical world and generate computer-controlledcharacters (and interactive or impenetrable objects) on the physicalworld. Such a pre-scanned system may be relatively inexpensive. If thevirtual game characters are computer-controlled enemy combatants (ormanually controlled characters by instructors at a stationary gamedevice or manually controlled characters by instructors using alocation-based game device on a different, location-synched playfield)then military soldiers may be trained in a variety of safe,combat-realistic situations.

The systems and methods of the present invention may be utilized for anytype of Augmented Reality (AR) application and is not limited to videogames. For example, AR applications for wearable-computers may beprovided. In one such application, virtual advertisements can bedisplayed on a user's head-mounted display to augment these virtualadvertisements over the real world. The display of virtualadvertisements may be provided to such a wearable computer when thewearable computer reaches a particular location. The virtualadvertisements can be displayed within a physical environment based onthe characteristics of the physical environment (e.g., displayed infront of you if nobody is walking in front of you or displayed above theheads of people walking in front of you if people are walking in frontof you). Similarly, AR-phone calls may be realized such that the imageof the person you are calling is displayed in your physical environment(e.g., the person you are having a telephone conversation is displayedas walking besides you or a two-dimensional video is displayed in frontof you).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The principles and advantages of the present invention can be moreclearly understood from the following detailed description considered inconjunction with the following drawings, in which the same referencenumerals denote the same structural elements throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a handheld location-based game system andaccompanying playmat constructed in accordance with the principles ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a handheld location-based game system inthe shape of the virtual character that the location-based game systemcontrols constructed in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of scaling a virtual playfield to a physicalplayfield constructed in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of landscape detection constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of virtual impenetrable object construction ona playfield based on detected landscape objects constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of computer-controlled character positioningand movement based on detected landscape objects constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of virtual playfield mapping that includesphysically detected impenetrable objects constructed in accordance withthe principles of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an illustration of computer controls for video game charactersin a location-based game constructed in accordance with the principlesof the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an illustration of different data storage structures for alocation-based game constructed in accordance with the principles of thepresent invention;

FIG. 10 is an illustration of displaying video game characters in asemi-visible display for a location-based game constructed in accordancewith the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is an illustration of displaying video game characters withdifferent transparencies for a location-based game constructed inaccordance with the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is an illustration of computer controlled movement of video gamecharacters in a virtual playfield constructed in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is an illustration of pre-scanning a physical playfieldconstructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention;and

FIG. 14 is an illustration of a location-based game topology constructedin accordance with the principles of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/603,481 filed on Aug. 20,2004 entitled “Wireless Devices With Flexible Monitors and Keyboards”(Docket No. JDM/007 PROV) and U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/208,943 filed on Aug. 22, 2005 entitled “Wireless Devices WithFlexible Monitors and Keyboards” (Docket No. JDM/007) are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/560,435 filed on Apr. 7, 2004entitled “Advanced Cooperative Defensive Military Tactics, Armor, andSystems” (Docket No. JDM/006 PROV) and U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/101,782 filed on Apr. 7, 2005 entitled “Advanced CooperativeDefensive Military Tactics, Armor, and Systems” (Docket No. JDM/006) arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/560,435 filed on Sep. 2, 2003entitled “Systems and Methods for Location Based Games and Employment ofthe Same on Location Enabled Devices” (Docket No. JDM/005 PROV) and U.S.patent application Ser. No. 10/932,536 filed on Sep. 1, 2004 entitled“Systems and Methods for Location-Based Games and Employment of the Sameon Location-Enabled Devices” (Docket No. JDM/005) are herebyincorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/797,801 filed on Mar. 9, 2004 titled“Systems and Methods for Providing Remote Incoming Call Notification forWireless Telephones” (Docket No. JDM/004) is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/367,967 filed on Mar. 25,2002 entitled “Systems and Methods for Locating Cellular Phones” (DocketNo. JDM/002 PROV) and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/400,296 filedon Mar. 25, 2003 titled “Systems and Methods for Locating WirelessTelephones and Security Measures for the Same” (Docket No. JDM/002) arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.

Turning first to FIG. 1, gaming system 100 is provided that includeshandheld game system 101 and playmat 150.

Gaming system 100 may be a location-based game system in which thephysical location (or physical movement) of a user on a physicalplayfield determines the virtual location (or virtual movement) of avirtual character on a virtual playfield. Location information may beobtained through, for example, any type of triangulation technique suchas a GPS system or a localized positioning system (LPS). For example,the time it takes multiple signals from multiple transmitters to reachdevice 101 may be utilized to determine the position of device 101.Location information may alternatively be obtained through various cellphone or wireless LAN location techniques. For example, a user's signalstrength between multiple hubs or base stations may be utilized todetermine that user's location. As per another example, inertialmovement sensors such as accelerometers and/or gyroscopes may beutilized to keep track of a user's movement in a particular direction.In this manner, the user's location may be determined and updated basedon the user's movements. Hybrids of such systems may also be utilized.For example, an accelerometer may be utilized to keep track of a user'sposition until a second locating signal is provided (e.g., a GPSsystem). In this manner, a GPS signal may be the master locating signalwhile the accelerometer provides location updates between GPS signals.Generally, device 140 is the locating device (or locating devices) forgame system 101.

Game system 101 may include manual controls 120 and manual controlswitch 132 that turns ON and OFF location-based controls. In thismanner, a user may still obtain functionality from game system 101while, for example, sitting on a park bench. ON/OFF switch 131 maycontrol when device 101 is turned ON and OFF.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that controls similar tomanual controls 120 and 131 may also be provided on an AR game system.Thus, a user may use manual controls to control the location of a videogame character in an AR game (e.g., control what first-personperspective is displayed on an AR display) without physically moving. Auser may also use manual controls similar to manual controls 120 and 131to toggle between an AR and VR game, toggle between AR and VRconfigurations of a game, and toggle from a location-based controlscheme to a manual control scheme after an AR game configuration hasbeen toggled to a VR game configuration. Thus, if a user is located inan environment that makes location-based AR gameplay difficult, (e.g., asmall-room or in a car), the user can instruct the game system toprovide a VR version of the game to be played with a manual controller.Thus, a user may instruct an AR/VR game system to display all virtualindicia on a head-mounted display (and/or render all virtual indicia)and not allow any areas of the display to become transparent. Thus, auser may instruct an AR/VR game system to switch from location-basedcontrol to manual input control. For systems with multiple controlsignals generated from multiple control devices, a switch for alternatecontrol schemes may be provided for each control device. For example, auser may turn a location-based sensor in a head-mounted display off,thus allowing a directional pad on a controller to control the locationof a video-game character (a user may also turn a switch associated withthe directional pad ON). Yet, the user may decide not turn OFF inertialmovement sensors in a hand-held controller, thus deciding not to, forexample, use control buttons or a directional pad to replace thefunctionality of the inertial movement sensors. Thus, a user may stillswing around a hand-held controller to register internal sensor readingsas control signals to, for example, swing around a video game object(e.g., a sword or lightsaber) in a game (e.g., a VR game) when the useris sitting in a car even though the user could, for example, switch to adirectional pad for the control the video game object. Additionalexamples of a video game object controlled by one or more inertialsensors may include, for example, a fishing rod, tennis racket, baseballbat, pool cue, football (e.g., throwing a football), baseball (e.g.,throwing a football), steering wheel, clutch, gun (or anotherobject-projecting device or projectile), horse-racing whip, frisbee,net, boxing gloves, or any type of object or action.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that a location-based gamesystem may not require a controller in addition to a game system. Forexample, game system 101 may be fabricated with just one or morelocation sensors and/or inertial movement sensors without any additionalmanual controls. In one example, game system 101 may be a low-costsystem that only provides a primary control signal to move a virtualcharacter in a virtual world (e.g., move a frog through an environment).Additional manual controls may be provided on a game system (e.g.,controls 120) and a game system may include connection ports to receiveadditional devices such as additional controllers, other game systems,displays (e.g., a TV or a head-mounted display), memory, add-on modules(e.g., software and/or hardware upgrade modules), or any type ofperipheral.

Playmat 120 may be provided in order to increase the whimsical andfestive nature of playing game system 101. For example, playmat 120 mayinclude indicia similar to environment indicia in a particular game.Playmat 150 may be sized according to the characteristics of a game, orvirtual environment, on system 101. For example, if a game on gamesystem 101 has a water component and a land component, playmat 1450 mayhave indicia of a water component (e.g., indicia 152) and land component(e.g., indicia 151). The size of each of these components may correspondto the movement needed of device 101 to travel across these componentsin a virtual environment. For example, if a user has to move 5 feet tocross the land component on a level of a game provided by game system101 then the land component of playmat 150 may be 5 feet long.

Playmats may be distributed with game system 101 in kits. In thismanner, multiple playmats may be included in such a kit (e.g., a retailpackage) that correspond to different environmental indicia on the game.So, for example, the kit may include a level 1 playmat and a level 2playmat. Alternatively, multiple versions of the same playmats may beincluded of the same level (e.g., have the same type of indicia), butmay be fabricated in different sizes. Alternatively a playmat with anadjustable size may be provided. Alternatively still, a playmat may beprovided with multiple different play areas (e.g., one half is used forlevel 1, the second half is used for level two) that can utilize bothsides of the mat (e.g., one side is used for level 1, the second side isused for level two). By including different playmats, or by definingdifferent playmat areas, a user may use a different playmat, or playmatarea, depending on how much physical movement is needed to move avirtual game character. Control of a virtual game character may beadjustable such that, for example, one mode is provided where a 1 footmovement moves the virtual character 1 pixel while a second mode isprovided where a 2 foot movement moves the character 1 pixel. Playmat150 may include apertures 180 such that playmat 150 may be secured to asurface (e.g., pegged into the ground). Indicia may also be located onthe playmat that corresponds to objects in the game. For example, thegoal of the game may be included as indicia on a playmat (e.g., indicia160).

Some game systems may use a reference location such that a user isrequested to return to that reference location before playing, forexample, a particular level (e.g., the next level after a level has beencompleted). Such a reference position may also be included as indicia onthe playmat (e.g., indicia 170). Game system 101 may include display 102for displaying a video game (e.g., displaying a 2-dimensional or3-dimensional image). Location device 140 (e.g., a positioning systemand/or inertial movement sensing system) may control the movement of avideo game character in a virtual world. The movement of the video gamecharacter in the virtual world may be displayed on display 102. Display102 may be, for example, a transparent display capable of having virtualindicia displayed selective portions of the display. Thus, a user maylook down through display 102 and see playmat 150. Any number of virtualindicia may be, in the example of FROGGER, a frog, a number of movingcars and busses, and a number of moving logs). Thus, the staticenvironment of the video game may not need to be displayed on such atransparent display because indicia representative of this staticenvironment may exist on playmat 150. In this manner, a user may lookdown through a transparent display and see the portion of playmat 150that is aligned beneath the transparent display. If virtual indicia issupposed to be in the area of the virtual world that corresponds to thearea of playmat 150 being viewed through a transparent display of system101, then that virtual indicia may be appropriately displayed on thetransparent display screen. Persons skilled in the art will appreciatethat when a user is looking through a transparent display toward ground,the visibility of virtual indicia may be limited. Functionality may beprovided in game system 101 such that display 102 is a transparentdisplay that can be held up to a user's eyes. Thus, the direction, thelocation, and the pitch of game system 101 may, for example, bedetermined and utilized to determine what, and where, virtual indiciaare displayed on such a transparent display.

Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that a head-mounted display(or a display that is held-up to a user's eyes) may be provided with anynumber of horizontal, vertical, or otherwise aligned two-dimensionalimages or three-dimensional images. For example, to reduce thecomplexity of a hand-held game system 101 with the functionality of ahold-to-eye AR system, the virtual indicia may be provided on thedisplay such that the virtual indicia is provided as flat, horizontaltwo-dimensional images hovering over playmat 150. One advantage of sucha two-dimensional example may be that functionally the size of displayscreen 102 becomes the size of playmat 150 when viewed through display102 when display 102 is provided as a transparent display operable todisplay virtual images. Another advantage is that the same processingthat is utilized to render a two-dimensional game (e.g., atwo-dimensional FROGGER game) may be utilized to render atwo-dimensional AR game. Game system 101 may include a clip 111 attachedto game system 101 via band 110.

FIG. 2 shows handheld game system 200 that is fabricated in a shapesimilar to a virtual character that a user controls by moving gamesystem 200. As illustrated, game system 200 shows the classic game ofFROGGER in which the main character is a frog. Handheld game system 200is fabricated to resemble a frog, thus adding to the whimsical andfestive nature of the functionality of the location-based game.Characteristics other than the shape may be manipulated to increase thewhimsical and festive nature of a game system. The paint scheme of thesystem may, for example, be associated to the colors of a virtualindicia operable of being provided by the game system.

FIG. 3 shows one mapping embodiment in which actual playfield 310 may bescaled to virtual playfield 350. The use of a virtual playfield may beutilized, for example, in systems in which movement scaling is desired.In this manner, a user may be provided with the ability to control howfar a particular physical movement (e.g., a 1 foot movement) moves avirtual character (e.g., 1 pixel or 2 pixels). The use of a virtualplayfield may also be utilized in systems in which multiple players areon the same virtual playfield. Accordingly, location information may betransmitted directly to a second game device or via an intermediarydevice such as a database (e.g., a database remote from the multiplegame devices). Such a database may push information received from onegame device to another game device. Alternatively, the gaming device mayperiodically, or continually, check the database to see if newinformation is available or what information is available. In order toshare information, such as location information, between two or moregaming devices, a security measure may be provided. For example, theuser of one gaming device may request that the user of a second gamingdevice grant permission for the user of the requesting gaming device toretrieve location information of the requested user's game device from aremote database. The requested user may then use his/her game device togrant permission. Permissions can be granted, for example, for theduration of a particular game between the players, any game between theplayers for a particular game, any game between the players for anygame, a particular length of time (e.g., a day or a week), or aparticular time of day (e.g., after-school). Additional parentalcontrols may be provided that allow a third-party to change thepermissions of a game device (e.g., such that a child cannot playmultiplayer during school hours). The identification of an individual toa game device may, for example, be done via a username and password. Agame device may be operable to communicate wirelessly with any number ofservices. Thus, a parent may go on the internet and contact aserver/database that is operable to communicate with a gaming device,identify himself/herself, and change the permissions the child has forusing the system. Such a parental control may be operable to prohibitany type of multiple play or games that exceed a particular maturityrating (e.g., a child may be allowed to access everyone games, but notteen or adult games).

A parent, the user, or a third-party, may prohibit play withinparticular areas or may prohibit game information being sent inparticular areas. For example, the manufacturer may prohibit the a gamesystem from sending location information to game systems located indifferent regions such that U.S. players cannot play against Japaneseplayers. Alternatively, the manufacturer may prohibit a U.S. region gameto be played on U.S. region system, or any region system, outside of theU.S. (e.g., in Japan). A game, or game system, may be operable to storea log of game play and a history of where the game device has beenlocated over time. In this manner, games may be fabricated in which thegame world corresponds to an actual area of the physical world (such asthe planet Earth or New York City). As such, a New York City game may beprovided in which you travel New York City playing the game.Accordingly, the game may prompt a player to go to a particular location(e.g., Times Square) to play a mini-game associated to that location(e.g., a Times Square game) in order to obtain a virtual item (e.g., aTimes Square T-shirt).

A location-based game (e.g., an AR game) may have its own virtualcurrency system such that any user can exchange real money for thevirtual currency system, with the game manufacturer taking a percentagecut, and the virtual currency can be used to buy/sell items. A user canbe provided with the option to then convert the virtual currency back toreal currency (e.g., the U.S. dollar) with the game manufacturer againtaking a percentage of the conversion. In this manner, a number ofadvertising schemes may be provided in a video game, or an augmentedapplication, such as an AR video game. For example, an advertiser maybuy advertising space at a particular location. A user may view thelocation at the particular location. If a user enters a physical store,or a virtual store, associated with the advertisements location then theuser may be given a portion of the proceeds of the money collected bythe advertiser. Alternatively, an advertiser may designate a maximumamount of advertising money the advertiser is willing to spend for aparticular amount of time and the amount of money the advertiser isdesirous of paying for each entering, or qualified, customer. Aqualified customer may be, for example, any user that enters the storewith a device operable to display/receive the advertisement, any userwhose entrance denotes the first known entrance of that user to aparticular location, any user whose entrance denotes the first knownentrance of that user to a particular chain of stores (e.g., McDonalds),or any user that interacts with the advertisement before entering thestore. When a user is determined to be a qualified a user, a percentageof the advertiser's fee for that qualified user may go to the video gamemanufacturer (or other third-party such a location-based advertisementservice) and a percentage of the advertiser's fee for that qualifieduser may go to the qualified user. Alternatively, for example, the storethat gave up its virtual advertising space (e.g., in an AR game wherephysical locations in the world are a part of gameplay) may get apercentage (e.g., the qualified user's percentage). Thus, a store canvirtually advertise to an AR video game (or another location-basedservice such as an AR information application run on a wearablecomputer) where third party advertisements are provided by anadvertising service. Each store (or chain of stores) may define aparticular type of third-party virtual advertisement to be displayed(e.g., sporting good ads) and, for example, a minimum price perqualified customer that needs to be met to provide the third-partyadvertisement over a default advertisement chosen by the store (e.g.,the stores advertisement).

Location scaling may be advantageously utilized in a number ofsituations. For example, one player may scale his/her physical movementdifferently than another player in order to produce a handicap/advantageor to allow for two players to play an AR game that are located ondifferent physical playfields having different sizes. Thus, cousins canplay against/with each other in the same virtual environment even thoughone player is located in a small, fenced-in backyard in Texas while theother player is located in wide, open soccer field in Minnesota.

Information on the actual playfield and virtual playfield may be storedon the memory of a portable device, an intermediary device, or both.Also, information about the actual playfield may be stored on theportable device while the virtual playfield is stored, for example, onan intermediary device. Information about a playfield may include, forexample, the parameters of the playfield, scaling information, and thestatus of the playfield (e.g., where a particular user is located in anactual playfield and where a user is located in a virtual playfield).The information about a playfield may also include where actual objectsare located (e.g., the areas of an actual playfield where impenetrableobjects such as house or boulder are located). The information about aplayfield may also include where virtual objects are located (e.g., theareas of a virtual playfield where a virtual sword or treasure islocated).

Additionally, actual playfield data may not be stored at all so thatonly virtual playfield data is stored (and scaling information toconvert the information to information useable on a particular actualplayfield). Thus, scaling may be done only at an intermediary device (orother game device) such that the intermediary device (or other gamedevice) scales right before information is transmitted to a game device.Alternatively, scaling may be done at the game system level such thatscaled information may be written directly into a virtual playfield(e.g., such that the intermediary device or other game systems do nothave any knowledge of how information is scaled). In this manner, astandard type of location information may be used to transmitinformation between devices. Such a standard may be 10 pixels for 1 footsuch that devices only need to transmit data in the standard and thedevices themselves can be set to scale the standard location informationin any manner without affecting, for example, remote devices. Furtherstill, virtual playfield data may not be stored at all and actualplayfield data may be utilized to operate the game.

Such playfields may take the form of, for example, a matrix of data, amatrix of vectors, or a matrix of matrices. In one embodiment, eachmatrix location may correspond to a pixel or a group of pixels (or alocation or a group of locations). A user's location (and/or thelocation of game characters or game objects) may be stored in suchmatrices and utilized to operate the game.

Suppose a game system is configured such that recognition of movementalong actual playfield 310 is recognized by moving through areas thatare 1 foot by 1 foot. Suppose a virtual playfield 350 operates under asimilar scheme only that the recognition of movement along the virtualplayfield is recognized as movement through areas that are 0.5 foot by0.5 foot area. Gameplay between two players located in two differentplayfields (both of which could be actual or virtual) may occur bysimply transmitting the number of location areas that a particularplayer has traveled through (e.g., player 1 travels vertically two arealocations). Such a number may be scaled such that the user's actualmovement of 5 location areas (e.g., 5 feet) is transmitted to theprocess controlling virtual playfield as 10 location areas (e.g., 10feet). As stated above, each system and/or intermediary may have its ownvirtual playfield for a one or multiplayer game. Persons skilled in theart will appreciate that a two player game may be provided on a singlegame system. Particularly, a number of wireless controllers may beprovided. A user can set up how much movement of a controller in anactual world would be required to move a virtual character a particulardistance in a virtual world. Thus, a user can control the speed ofhis/her virtual character compared to other users.

A user therefore may start at origin O (noted on actual playfield 310 asposition 10, 5 or information/location 301) and move up 3 feet and tothe left 1 foot to be at location L (noted on actual playfield 310 asposition 7, 4 or information/location 302). In this manner, data may bestored on a matrix (or other data structure such as a database accessedby a memory pointer) corresponding to an actual playfield location(e.g., matrix location 7, 4). Actual playfield data (such as actuallocation information) may then be scaled and stored on a secondplayfield data structure (e.g., as location 14, 8 on a second matrix)such that, for example, a scaling functionality can be provided.Generally, locations on different playfields are scaled according to arelationship between the structure of the two playfields. Multiple typesof information can be written to a matrix such as a matrix for a virtualplayfield. For example, a player identifier and scaling information maybe stored in a matrix location. Persons skilled in the art willappreciate that the location of a user can also be stored in datastructures as location information or the location can be determinedbased on where non-location information is stored in a storage structure(e.g., where in a matrix a players identification information isstored). Information about virtual indicia such as virtual charactersand objects may also be stored in such a virtual playfield.

A playfield may also have event data (such as data E at location 1, 6 onplayfield 310 or information/location 303). Event data may trigger anaction if someone occurs at that event location, in relation to thatevent location, or in relation to the event data. For example, eventdata may be configured such that if a user (e.g., a manually controlledvirtual character) enters location storing event data E, or location303, an event occurs (e.g., the level is completed or the game developsin a particular way). As per another example, event data may beconfigured such that if a user accomplishes a goal (e.g., shoots arocket-propelled grenade at the location and the rocket-propelledgrenade hits, or enters the location, then the event data may change thecharacteristics of the location such that an impenetrable locationbecomes an accessible via an access pathway).

A processor may move, operate, the virtual objects in such a virtualplayfield according to code representative of the game. Coderepresentative of the game can take account of particular situationssuch as, when example, a computer-controlled video game character nears,or enters the location of, a player-controlled video game character. Thecode can use this information and other information (e.g., additionalmanual control information from a player such as the status of ATTACKand DEFEND buttons) to determine what happens to the manually orcomputer-controlled game character on the virtual playfield. Thus, thevideo game can, for example, be executed on the system(s) housing thevirtual playfield. If, for example, the virtual playfield is located ona remote system such as a remote database (or a game system remote fromhead-mounted displays) each separate gaming device, or head-mounteddisplays, may only need to have the ability to receive and displayvideo/sound representative of the video game environment and sendlocation and control information to the system playing the video-game.Such an embodiment provides light-weight and inexpensive head-mounteddisplays or game devices and may not need to store an actual playfield.Such devices can transmit location and control information scaled to astandard format (e.g., 0.5 foot movements) as well as other informationsuch as the direction the user is facing, the perspective of the user(e.g., how the user's head is tilted such as the pitch and roll of thehead) and the status of any additional buttons. Persons skilled in theart will appreciate that sensors can be utilized to determine the pitch,yaw, or roll of a device such as a head-mounted display and suchinformation may be utilized by an AR game system (e.g., utilized toselect and display virtual indicia on a virtual display).

In a dedicated single player game with no scaling capabilities, forexample, actual playfield matrix 310 (or a playfield matrix) may beutilized to store location information and operate the game. As aresult, the actual playfield matrix 310 may be visualized as a virtualplayfield matrix. In this manner, a processor may periodically (or inreal time) update the location of game objects or the status of the game(e.g., environment objects, enemy objects, and interactive objects)based on particular characteristics of the game. For example, if, forany period or at any time, a user's location corresponds to the locationof an end object (as stored in actual matrix 310) then the game maydetermine that the game has ended and display associated graphics to theuser by way of a display.

In a multiplayer game with two portable systems and a remoteintermediary, the intermediary may, for example, utilize playfieldmatrix 350 to update game locations while the individual systems usedifferent playfield matrices. One portable system may, for example, havea playfield matrix similar to playfield matrix 310. The other portablesystem may have, for example, a playfield matrix similar to playfieldmatrix 350. As a result, even though data is handled at a differentscale on each portable system, the data is scaled to the same matrix(e.g., the same virtual playfield). Thus, the two portable systems mayeasily play with each other—even if the two portable systems are usingcompletely different playfields of different sizes (e.g., one player isplaying on a basketball court in Japan while a second player is playingin his/her backyard in the USA). Such players may chose an actualplayfield dimension from a variety of dimensions (e.g., 10 feet by 10feet or 20 feet by 20 feet) and information may be stored according tothese dimensions and transmitted to an intermediary (e.g., a databasestored on a remote database).

Information may be transmitted periodically or in real time. Informationmay be received periodically or in real time (in order to, for example,obtain opponent player information). Transmissions may alternativelyoccur when information changes. The portable systems may be in charge oftransmitting/receiving. The intermediary (or intermediaries) may be incharge of transmitting/receiving. Or, for example, the portable systemmay be in charge of transmitting information when that portable system'slocation changes and the intermediary may be in charge of transmittinginformation (e.g., when the portable system receives information) whenthe opponent player's (or any one of multiple opponent players) locationchanges or a game characteristic changes (e.g., the location of avirtual game character not associated to an actual user changes).

FIG. 4 shows semi-visible display 451 in which an AR game is provided.Landscape detector 451 may be provided in such a system such that thelocation of actual environmental objects may be determined and utilizedin the game. In environment 410, environmental objects 411 and 412 arepresent. Accordingly, landscape detector may determine the location ofenvironmental objects 411 and 412 and record this location in memory(e.g., in a remote or local playfield matrix or data structure). Thegame may be then utilize such environmental objects to change thecharacteristics of the game (e.g., where virtual game characters notassociated to actual users may move in a virtual environment). Thus,computer-controlled characters may not be able to move into areas withsuch environmental objects and the movement profiles of acomputer-controlled character may change as a result of theenvironmental object. As such, a default traveling route that acomputer-controlled character is coded to travel (or a default behaviorthat a character is coded with) may be changed due to an environmentalobject.

Landscape detector 451 may take multiple forms. For example, landscapedetector 451 may measure the distance to objects and the shape of theobject. This may be done for example by sound/light sensing (e.g.,reflective sensing such as sound/light echoing or color sensing withrespect to light source) or any type of object/distance sensing (e.g.,infrared). A camera may be utilized to take a picture/video of theenvironment. Video processing features may be utilized to determinelandscape as, for example, a user moves around the landscape. Suchdetermined landscape may be stored in the game system (or a remotesystem) and utilized to determine where to place virtual images on adisplay (e.g., a head-mounted display) based on the alignment of thatdisplay to the actual environment. Landscape sensing may be donethroughout game play or at set times (e.g., before a game is started orperiodically). Such information may be stored in memory as part of anenvironment profile and associated with location information such asglobal information such that the environmental profile may be utilizedwhenever that user plays in that environment (e.g., at a particularlongitude and latitude coordinate).

Alternatively still, environmental data may be coded directly into thegame. For example, if the military desires an AR system for specialoperations warfare then a particular field may be utilized for gameplay. That particular field may include environmental objects and thelocation and size of these environmental objects may be coded directlyinto the system (e.g., on a playfield matrix or data structure). Virtualinterfaces may help code such data by allowing a user to, for example,pick shapes and place them on a virtual playfield and manipulate theshapes until they correspond to actual shapes on an actual playfield. Inthis manner, functionality may also be added to objects. For example, ifthe object is a house, the object may be coded as hollow and may allow auser to pass through a particular portion of the object (e.g., theportion that correlates to a doorway) but not other portions of theobject (e.g., the portion that correlates to wall). Virtual objectsgenerated by a Location-Based (LB) or AR game (or other AR or LBservice) that do not correspond to actual objects may operate in asimilar manner (such that if a user tries to pass through a wall his/herperspective does not change). This may be an advantage over scanningtechniques because scanning techniques may denote the object as solid ifthe door is closed when scanning occurs.

As a result of system 400, virtual characters may be displayed ondisplay 452 and augmented over reality. Using the above example,computer controlled enemy soldiers may be played in the house and mayhave the functionality of only being able to move inside of the house(manually controlled enemy soldiers may similarly be restrained frommoving out of the house). Therefore, U.S. soldiers using augmentedreality system 400 may be able to train with highly skilled virtualcombatants in real environments. Such combatants may also be controlledremotely by other users (e.g., instructors) operating in a similarlysized real building on a different field. In this manner, live roundsmay be used in a safe environment (if, for example, only 1 person isplaying in each actual environment). Sensors may be placed on a physicaldoor to the building to determine whether the door is OPEN or CLOSED.Alternatively, the landscape detector may be configured to recognizeopen doors or the AR system may determine that an access pathway isavailable in a real world once a user enters into such an access pathway(e.g., a location the game system things is blocked may be changed tounblocked after a game system moves into the location). Thus, the statusof an actual, physical object (e.g., a door) may affect the game. Usingthe above examples, enemy soldiers may be able to move out of thebuilding once an access pathway is created that leads into the house(e.g., where computer controlled characters, or other indicia can onlyleave through such access pathways or other exits). Access pathways mayalso be created in virtual objects not present in the physical, actualworld. For example, a virtual house, or other object, may be augmentedover a user's environment. If a user tries to pass though the objectimproperly (e.g., without opening a door or performing another actionsuch as blowing a hole in the virtual object), the user may be able towalk forward in his/her physical environment, but the augmented realityperspective/scene provided to the user may not change. Actions (e.g.,solutions) may be stored in the game that, when triggered, create anaccess pathway in a virtual object. Such an action may be, for example,pressing an OPEN button, or performing an OPEN function, on a virtualdoor, blowing a hole into a virtual wall via a gun or bomb, placing avirtual key (e.g., a virtual key obtained earlier in a game) near thevirtual door or a virtual keyhole associated to a door, properly usingan alphanumeric virtual access pad on the alphanumeric door, or gettingpast a particular stage in the game (e.g., lighting acomputer-controlled virtual game character on fire so that the virtualgame character crashes through the door).

Device 400 may have any component of a location-base game including, forexample, positioning systems (e.g., GPS systems) and movement sensors(e.g., accelerometers and/or gyroscopes). Furthermore, additionalsensors may be utilized to determine pitch that the head-mounted displayis pointed, the height of the head-mounted display, the roll of thehead-mounted display, and the direction that the head-mounted display ispointed. The perspective of virtual game characters may be, for example,determined by such pitch, height, roll, direction, and locationinformation.

FIG. 500 shows virtual environments 501 and 550 that may be renderedusing actual environment data may be used in, for example, alocation-based game (e.g., an AR game) in a variety of different ways.Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that environments of a figure(e.g., such as environments 501 and 550) may also be consideredplayfields (e.g., virtual game playfields) or may be virtual indicia(e.g., virtual game objects and characters) augmeted over actual,physical environments.

In one methodology, actual, physical objects are scanned in by alandscape detector (or manually entered) may be virtualized as virtualobjects in the video game. Thus, information regarding actual, physicalenvironmental objects may be saved on a virtual playfield that storesinformation for a game such as a game matrix/database or other datastructure. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that such virtualobjects may be displayed to a user or may be used only as gameinformation that game code uses to execute a game. In an example wherevirtual environmental objects are displayed back to a user that hasassociated physical environmental objects in his/her view, the virtualenvironmental objects may be augmented to replace, or lay over, thephysical, objects. Such a technique may be utilized to provide a moreseamless execution of an AR game as virtual characters may be alignedwith the virtual objects. Thus, if the game becomes misaligned to thelandscape on a display (e.g., a semi-visible head-mounted display), thecharacters may still be aligned with the virtual environmental objectsand the misalignment may not be noticed. Also, physical objects may berecognized as described above, their appearance manipulated, and thenused to augment a viewer's perspective of the actual environmentalobject. For example, suppose a game has a number of immobile, non-hollowobjects (e.g., crashed spaceships, dead dinosaurs, gigantic trees), thesize of scanned in environmental objects (e.g., houses, boulders, trees)may be compared to the size of the game objects. Objects that are closein size to an environmental objects may be rendered in the location ofthe actual, physical environmental object until, for example, all of theactual, physical environmental objects have been augmented withenvironmental game objects. Such a feature may increase the availablearea of a playfield that a user may walk to. Such a feature may makeplaying the same game in different playfields appear different asvirtual environmental objects are placed differently in the differentplayfields. Such a difference may result in a difference in thedifficulty of the game.

In environment 501, environmental objects 511 and 512 may be virtualizedas a 2-D object in a 3-D space. Alternatively, as shown in environment550, environmental objects 511 and 512 are virtualized as 3-D objects ina 3-D space (e.g., either by 3-D objects or 2-D objects that define theperimeter of the 3-D object. If the environmental sensor can only sensethe distance to an object and, for example, the 2-D size of the objectthen program logic may be provided to generate a 3-D image from thesensed 2-D image. For example, program logic may assume that a 2-foottall and 2-foot wide 2-D object is 2-feet deep and, in this manner, maydetermine depth information based on height and width information. Suchdepth information may be updated as more information is gathered (e.g.,as a user walks to a point where the depth of the object may be sensed).Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that two still images of anobject taken from different perspectives may be utilized to determineadditional dimensions of an object when compared to when only a singleimage is evaluated. Thus, the information on the actual environment maybe ever-changing and utilized continually, or periodically, by the gamesystem.

In another methodology, virtual environmental data may be utilized todisplay virtual environments on areas of the head-mounted display (orother display). This can provide numerous functionalities. For example,if two players play on different field with different objects, virtualobjects from an opponents field may be generated on a user's field suchthat both opponents have the same type of area to play in. Each user maythen not be able to move into environmental objects from other player'senvironments. Alternatively still, the location of actual environmentalobjects may determine the placement of, for example, non-interactiveand/or impenetrable virtual objects. For example, if an augmentedreality game has an item shop, that item shop may be overlaid over alarge actual environmental object (e.g., a wall) such that the user's“free space” is maximized.

FIG. 6 shows virtual character movement between environmental objects inenvironments 610 and 600. Persons skilled in the art will appreciatethat environments of a figure (e.g., such as environments 610 and 600)may also be considered playfields (e.g., virtual game playfields) or maybe virtual indicia (e.g., virtual game objects and characters) augmentedover actual, physical environments. In environment 601, no environmentalobjects may be present. Therefore, logic may be provided such thatvirtual character 610 moves along path 611 while virtual character 620moves along path 621. In environment 650, actual environmental objectmay be present and stored in memory as virtual objects 651 and 652.Alternatively, no actual environmental objects may have been scanned butvirtual objects may otherwise be provided at the locations of virtualobjects 651 and 652 (e.g., may be originally coded into a game's code orintelligently placed at the locations based on the actual environment).If the stored location of virtual objects 651 impedes on the plannedmovement of virtual characters, then program logic (e.g., game code) maymanipulate the movement path of virtual characters around these virtualobjects. If the movement path is dynamic (e.g., not laid out) then suchvirtual environment locations may not be “moved into” by a dynamicvirtual character. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that anumber of intelligent placement features of virtual objects/charactersmay be provided. For example, a virtual object/character may be placedin the middle of a particular open space to maximize the change of thevirtual object/character coming within a particular distance of a user(e.g., to maximize the virtual object/character's field of vision on thevirtual playfield). Alternatively, virtual objects/characters may beplayed in locations determined to be strategically advantageous. Forexample, if there is only a single entrance to a playfield or playfieldarea (e.g., a doorway to a room) then virtual objects/characters can bespread about either behind virtual objects placed in the playfield (fromthe perspective someone standing in the door) or placed such thatmultiple objects/characters have different perspective angles to thedoor (e.g., such that virtual enemy soldiers can cover the doorway fromdifferent angles). Thus, cooperative defensive and offensive tactics maybe used by the virtual game objects/characters.

Visibility of virtual objects/characters may be set and modified for ahead-set augmented reality system. For example, a user may define avirtual visibility of 100 feet. Virtual barriers may then be provided(e.g., rendered and augmented on a display) at this proximity (or atpredefined boundaries) to immerse the user in the augmented world. Forexample, if a child is playing in a city, then the visual barriers maytake the form of fog and this may hide any skyscrapers that may takeaway from the believability of the augmented reality.

FIG. 7 shows a playfield data structure in which environmental objectdata 701 (e.g., barrier information data) may be stored. Such aplayfield data structure may be used as the primary informationstructure for the game such that program logic refers to information inthe playfield structure to determine game events (e.g., point scoring,deaths, level completions).

FIG. 8 shows expanded virtual character information (shows asinformation C 802 and information Cc 801) stored in a playfield datastructure. If a character takes up more than one pixel (or more than onedata block if data blocks are associated with size) then one of the datalocations may be the controlling location Cc. Thus, program logic mayjust move the controlling character information data Cc and then thiscontrolling character information may be utilized to generatesurrounding character information (e.g., C). Any sort of characterinformation may be associated to, for example, a control location or anycharacter information. For example, the distance a computer-controlledvirtual character can see (e.g., the, distance at which the charactercan read information on a virtual playfield) can be associated to thecontrol information (e.g., the control location) for that character. Asper another example, the distance a character can use a particularattack (e.g., project a projective using sling-shot versus shooting abullet out of a gun) can be related, in a game's code) the controlinformation (e.g., the control location) for that character.

FIG. 9 shows possible data structures that may be utilized for aplayfield data structure. Matrix of pointers 910, matrix of descriptors920, matrix of vectors 930, or matrix of tables/matrices 940 may beutilized. Matrix of pointers 910 may be, for example, pointers thatpoint to memory locations in which a large amount of information isstored (e.g., in which a vector of information is stored). Matrix ofdescriptors 920 may be, for example, a matrix of the information neededfor a particular playfield location. Matrix of vectors 930 may have oneor more matrix locations associated to one or more playfield locationsand may include complex information in any form (e.g., vector form ortable form as shown in matrix of tables 940). Any data structures suchas any type of database may be utilized or, alternatively, actions andinformation may be written as additional code into a games code or,alternatively still, used by a games code as code updates.

FIG. 10 shows virtual characters 1010 and 1060 generated on displayscreens 1001 and 1051. Depending on the distance of virtual characters(either controlled by an opponent or computer controlled) from thedisplay (or locating device on the system), the size of virtualcharacters that are shown may be manipulated. In this manner, a user isprovided augmented reality indicia that is scaled to the perspective ofthat user (e.g., height, pitch, roll, distance and location of theperspective). As such a true three-dimensional virtual object/charactercan be provided whose size scales according to the height, pitch, roll,distance, and location of the perspective to the virtualobject/character (e.g., the perspective of a user).

Logic may be included such that virtual characters (either controlled byan opponent or computer controlled) are transparent (e.g., virtualobject/character 1160 of environment 1150 of FIG. 11) or non-transparent(e.g., virtual object/character 1110 of environment 1101 of FIG. 11). Auser may be able to manually control the transparency or the contrast ofindicia that is being displayed. Transparent objects may offer theadditional functionality of making the environment safer to move in. Forexample, a user may trip over a rock if that user is in an “invinciblemode” and runs through a virtual character and that character covers therock by being non-transparent. A user is less likely to trip over a rockif that user can see the rock, in some form, through a character. Thetransparency of a character may also change depending on the user'sdistance from that character. For example, far-away characters may besemi-transparent (noting they can't interact with you yet such as theycan't shoot you yet) while characters that you are sharing a locationwith are almost entirely-transparent. Persons skilled in the art willappreciate that the transparency of a virtual object may be changed by,for example, changing the number of pixels that define an image aredisplayed. The smaller amount of pixels that are used to depict acharacter that are used, the more transparent a character (or virtualobject) may become.

Virtual characters (either opponent-controlled or computer controlled)may have certain functionalities that have certain functionalityenvelopes. For example, a virtual controlled character may have aninteractive object like a weapon (e.g., a gun) that may shoot aninteractive bullet over a particular distance. Such envelopes may takeany form. For example, if a virtual character has a force field then theforce field may be mapped around, for example, a controlling location aparticular distance. Thus, an event may occur if a different character(such as a user-operated character) walks into this envelope (e.g., theuser's health may decrease).

As illustrated in FIG. 1200, such envelopes may be utilized to determinehow far a virtual character may see. For example, one character (e.g.,information C1 1201) may only see in the direction that character isfacing (e.g., information S1 1202). A second character may see in aparticular direction around that character (e.g., information S2 1203).These envelopes may overlap (e.g., information S3 1204) such that if auser walks into S1, C1 can attack (or some other functionality may beutilized by the game). If a user walks into S2, C2 can attack (or someother functionality may be utilized by the game). If a user walks intoS3, C1 and C2 can attack (or some other functionality may be utilized bythe game).

FIG. 13 shows system 1300 in which sections of an actual playfield arescanned in before gameplay begins. Such scanning may be utilized fromthe perimeter of an area (or multiple perimeters). Alternatively, thegame may be fabricated to utilize scanning from the center of an areaand the user may be directed to rotate at a particular speed for aparticular period of time (or until a particular number of rotationshave occurred). Alternatively, a virtual configuration indicia (e.g., avirtual character) may be displayed on a display (e.g., a user'shead-mounted display during set up). Manual controls may allow a user tochange the location of the configuration indicia and acknowledge whendesired configuration is obtained. Thus, a user may look at a particularportion of an actual playfield, move his/her head up and down, andcontinually change and acknowledge the location of the virtual indiciaso that the virtual indicia is aligned with the landscape (e.g., isstanding on the landscape). The game code (e.g., the code aligning theimage on the display) may be dynamically updated such that as a usermoves his/her head, the perspective to the virtual indicia changes and auser can change any misalignment that occurs at any perspective and suchmisalignment errors may be used to update the game's code (orrendering/alignment code). Manually entered acknowledgment informationfor alignment via manual controls may be utilized to generate arepresentation of the physical landscape a user is playing the game on.Thus, actual, physical environmental data can either be, for example,scanned by a location detector prior to a game (or during a game), builtusing a computer administration interface, or manually entered on thefly via configuration and acknowledgment controls.

FIG. 14 shows game system 1401 and network topology 1450.

Game system 1401 may include, for example, any number of power sources1420, output devices 1425, memory 1430, connection terminal (e.g.,input, output interfaces) 1435, additional components 1440, locationdevices (e.g., GPS, LPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, inertial movementsensors, hybrid location systems) 1445, manual input controls 1450,wireless transmitters and receivers 1455 and other communicationtransmitters and receivers (e.g., blue tooth, WiFi, wireless LAN,infrared, radio), landscape device 1465.

Topology 1450 may include remote facilities such as content oradministrator facilities 1480 with intermediaries such as remotedatabases 1481 (or content providers), network 1451 (e.g., a wirelessnetwork such as a wireless LAN based network). Internet portals 1461 and1471 may also be provided such that information may be published anddownloaded from web-based game systems (e.g., via cellular phone gamesystems). Portable gaming devices 1460 (e.g., handheld device 100 ofFIG. 1 or head-mounted device 452 of FIG. 2 or a cell phone) may beutilized as game systems. Alternatively, stationary devices (e.g., homegame systems) may be utilized to generate virtual game characters on anaugmented reality system. As mentioned, wireless phones may includelocation devices such that wireless phones may, for example, downloadprogram logic and be utilized a location-based game systems or ascontrol devices for augmented reality game systems. Any third-partyservice may be utilized by an AR game system (or an AR wearablecomputer). For example, cell phone, or another wireless communicationservice, may be provided to an AR device. Location security services(e.g., permission control services or encryption/compression services)may also be utilized by an AR system.

Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that the presentinvention is not limited to only the embodiments described. Instead, thepresent invention more generally involves providing location-based gamesand AR systems. Persons skilled in the art will also appreciate that theapparatus of the present invention may be implemented in other ways thenthose described herein. For example, the AR capabilities may be utilizedfor AR advertising in which advertisement signs are provided outside ofcertain locations (e.g., outside a GPS signal that denotes you are neara GAP clothing store). Such an advertisement may be positioned, forexample, based on a landscape detector, perspective determining devices,or particular locations. All such modifications are within the scope ofthe present invention, which is limited only by the claims that follow.

1-3. (canceled)
 4. A computer-readable medium having program logicthereon for performing the method comprising: providing 3-D video gameindicia to a transparent head-mounted display with respect to a physicalplayfield based on video game logic; utilizing a detector to determinelandscape characteristics of said physical playfield, wherein said videogame logic utilizes said landscape characteristics in providing saidvideo game; and utilizing a locating device to determine the physicallocation of said locating device on said physical playfield, whereinsaid video game logic utilizes the physical location of said locatingdevice in providing said video game.